The Dark Tower (Merlin)
by BroomHero
Summary: What if while Arthur and his knights save Gwen from the Dark Tower Merlin is captured and thought dead? How will Merlin manage with torture every single day? and how will Arthur manage with the 'death' of his manserv- friend?
1. Chapter 1

HEYA GUYS! SOZ I HAVENT UPLOADED ANYTHING RECENTLY BUT HEY IM HERE NOW! ANYWAY THIS STORY IS A MERLIN STORY AND (Quick disclaimer) UNFORTUNATELY OUT OF THE MANY TIMES I HAVE CHECKED I STILL DO NOT OWN MERLIN :( This story is my own version of the episode 'The Dark Tower' so there will be spoilers for that episode and before that so i suggest you watch up to this episode before reading this fanfic. Rated T BECAUSE IM PARANOID. Also this is a Merlin whump use I'm best at writing whumps :/ This is obviously just the first chapter and i know its not much but i just wanted to get something to you guys. Ly all thanks for reading!

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Morgana's plan had worked perfectly. She had captured Gwen and tortured her with sorcery that ended up brain washing her in a way. The poor girl had been tricked into thinking bad of Camelot and it's king forcing her onto Morgana's side. The real Gwen was tucked away in the back of her mind, being held back by the dark magic that belonged to Morgana. What made it even worse was that Gwen could see, feel, taste, hear and smell everything that was happening except she wasn't in control of **her own body**.

The witch that caused the chaos watched as Elyan died and Gwen sat sobbing over his dead body. Sobbing fake tears that is. Although the loss of her brother did actually hurt her, those tears were fake. Everything that she did from that point on was fake.

Time seemed to slow as the King and the knights rushed into the room then knelt down beside Gwen in mourning, except for Merlin. The second that he entered the room and realised that Morgana wasn't there he turned back, walking down another corridor in search for her. He was not going to let her get away with what she had done.

Merlin was about to turn down a corridor when an invisible force hit him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a wall, bashing his skull against the cold stone. The impact left him on his hands and knees, in a very dazed state. The world spun and every single sound made it tilt even more.

'Definitely a concussion' he thought. The sound on footsteps started to make their way over to him. He didn't dare look up.

Soon enough he felt a tug on his hair as he was forced to look up to meet the eyes of his attacker. The world in front of him was blurry and unclear but there was no dubt about it that the person in front of him was Morgana. She grinned, or at least Melrin thought she did, and let out a dark chuckle.

"Oh Merlin," She teased "you're prepared are you?" Her voice was almost sympathetic. Merlin groaned at her tone of voice

"Why do you have to be so despicable?" he managed. The witch scowled and tugged at his hair even more before pulling him into a nearby room. Obviously he had put up a fight on the short trip there but his mind was cloudy and he felt a bit tipsy. He was roughly shoved onto the floor before receiving a unforgiving kick to the stomach causing him to curl in on himself.

Morgana had no reason to do this other than the fact she would have no entertainment for while Gwen worked her magic at Camelot. She had no doubt that Arthur would come looking for Merlin but she already had plans to drive him away. She was to create a false image of the boy's dead body and blame it on his own clumsiness. She giggled at her own thought before slamming the old, metal door shut.

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Stay tuned for the next chapter my lovelies! - **Your CheeseMaster**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Heya guys how are you today? Good! SO THIS CHAPTER WAS DEFO FUN WRITING! PLEASE ENJOY IT AND I'LL SEE YOU AT THE BOTTOM! :D**_

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Merlin laid down in an attempt to ease his throbbing head. He needed a few minutes to get his bearings. While still lying on his back with his hands on his back Merlin heard a faint drip. It was more of a splat, like a very thick substance falling from a height.

He slowly opened his eyes expecting a light to make him shut them again but instead he was greeted with a low light, no torches, only a small grate in the wall that let some seep through. Whether it was daylight or the moon Merlin couldn't be sure but it let in just enough for him to see his surroundings. Above him, hanging from the ceiling, were mandrake roots dripping with a black, gooey substance. Merlin immediately scrambled to his feet and backed away into a wall, ignoring the protests from his aching head. Before he could reach the wall he had a few black spots of that goo drop on his arm and face. He stood against the wall staring at the room before him. He knew what Morgana was trying to do. This was an old method of torture. The mandrake root and the substance on it added together created a powerful weapon that could break any man (or woman!). It was a mental torture that drove the poor victim barmy within days. Of course it was witchcraft, sorcery and it never failed the job. The mandrake root would make you hallucinate your worst fears. Generally people that were close to you turning on you, people you love and cared for becoming someone completely different.

The boy looked up at the door several feet away from him and realised that Morgana had enforced some kind of spell that rendered his magic useless after trying to open the door with his mind. He slid down the wall and brought his knees up to his chest hugging them tightly, waiting for something to scare him.

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There was silence in the tower room except for Guinevere sobs and sniffles as she mourned over the loss of her dear brother. Arthur finally told them all that if they wished to get back to Camelot within the next day and a half then they best leave now. The knights wrapped up Elyan's body in their cloaks in an attempt to preserve his body, then got ready to pick him up. They all looked over at Arthur with questioning expressions on their faces when they saw him frowning while looking around the room. He wasn't completely sure of what it was but something was off… He briefly did a head count. 'Gwaine, Percival, Leon, Elyan…, Guinevere, myself annnnd…' His thought trailed off.

"Merlin!" He said aloud. Arthur frantically searched around the room and checked out in the hallway quickly before saying in his most calm voice,"Where is Merlin?" It dawned on everybody that it had been extremely quiet from the second they had entered the room. No one said anything.

They heard a small, menacing giggle echo through hallways that then entered the room they were in and circled it. Morgana.  
"You're all fools!" She laughed almost comically. Her voice was _everywhere_. By now each knight and king had drawn their swords and pointing them at nothing.  
"You really do nothing to care for the boy do you? You only care after he is in any type of danger. Well" She giggled. "Your caring has come too late this time, dear brother…" Her words dripped with venom.  
"Morgana, what have you done?" He was frowning now and his heartbeat had quickened. The thought of his manserv- friend injured stuck at his heart.  
"What have _I_ done?" She said with a slight giggle. This time instead of her voice echoing around the circular room it was pinpointed on one position. Morgana stepped out of some shadows holding a glass sphere in her hands, a look of amusement was plastered on her face. Every knight turned to face her and stepped in front of Gwen and their fallen friend, in a fighting stance, ready to attack. The witch laughed menacingly before the smile fell from her face.

"No," She corrected him "What have _you_ done?"

Confused glanced were passed between the men while behind them a slight smile crept onto Guinevere's face, catching on to Morgana's plan.  
"WHERE IS HE?!" An aggravated/worried shout erupted from the king's mouth.

A bony hand beckoned for him to approach her. He didn't move.  
"If you wish to know where the boy is then I recommend you come over here!" He did so.  
"Sire!" Leon protested. Arthur held up a hand to him before turning back to Morgana. He still had his sword ready. An unwelcoming smile was, once again, on her face. She looked at him and then onto the ball in her hands. The same hand started ghosting around the ball making it go all misty inside. She was muttering a spell under her breath.

Soon enough her movements stopped.

She stared down into the fog and smiled yet Arthur couldn't see anything. Seeing Arthur's curiosity she held the sphere up so it was level with his eyes. After squinting for half a minute or so his eyes widened and a heavy gasp escaped his lips. What he saw in front of him was unbelievable. No, literally. He could not believe his eyes. The fog had cleared and an authentic image was shown. Merlin lay on the ground against a wall, his eyes were closed and a pool of blood surrounded his torso.

He had been run through.

 **With his own sword**

Just a metre away several ghost like figures were floating around the room in repeated circles, not even glancing down at the dead boy right next to them. 'No… Not dead' Arthur thought 'He can't be dead! He always gets up!' The next few seconds Arthur had continued staring into the ball like Merlin would do anything, **anything** , to show that he still lived.

Nothing.

His pale skin remained the same. His blood soaked hair remained untouched. _His_ 'loyal' sword remained shoved in his abdomen. His angelic blue eyes remained closed.

He remained dead.

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 _ **Heh...heh...heh... .. .. .. .**_  
 _ **IM SORRY OKAY?! HAH Oh lord... Well i'm ending this chapter here with that because I'm too sassy and i cannot be tamed. The next chapter will be up soon so don't go dying from the tension within the short period of time okay? I'm gonna write the next chapter now so if you're lucky i might even be up later but who knows? Anyways i hope you enjoyed this chapter (I certainly did) and i love you all! BYE - Your CheeseMaster**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**GRAB YOUR TISSUES GUYS THIS ONE'S GOING TO BE AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER. I've had many messages and reviews saying that my writing is very emotional but I wouldn't know that because I have no emotions xD so don't blame me if you got those tissues for no reason. Enjoy!**_

Merlin was dead.

Arthur's longest and most loyal friend was dead. Merlin had always been more than a manservant. He had always been his best friend, always been there from him, always being overly loyal towards him. And what had Arthur given in return? Armour polished, floor washing, clothes cleaned, room tidied, boots scrubbed, horses cared for, luggage carried, stables mucked out, food cooked, food severed, food cleared up, bath made, bath cleared up and so many more **chores**.

Arthur had given him chores. After everything that Merlin had done for him he gave him more work to do. The selfish, bratty, rude, unkind king had ignored every single thing that Merlin had done for him.

The king stumbled back and lightly leant against a pillar, dropping his sword in the process. He had finally taken his eyes off the magical sphere and was staring down at the ground.

"Sire?" One of the knights called and ran over to his side, concerned for his king. They had all seen the look of pure horror as he looked into the glass. They had said his name once or twice but got no response. He slowly looked up to meet Gwaine's concerned face in front of him.

"Sire what did you see?" By now Morgana had disappeared.

"Mer- Merlin…" He breathed

"He's fine, right?" A pause, "R-right?" Gwaine's eyes were darting all over the king's face in a search for answers.

The other knights had gathered round Arthur and were all frowning. A mixture of anger, fear, worry and god knows what else was planted on their faces.

"Arthur," Percival this time "please just tell us"

Gwaine was gripping tightly on his arm.

"He's gone…" Arthur mumbled, his gaze falling back to the stone floor.

"Gone?! What do you mean gone? Where has he gone, Arthur? Back to Camelot? Where Arthur?!" Gwaine was practically shouting now but was soon calmed down by a hand on his shoulder.

"He's dead." The men's faces fell "He- he was lying in a room… He was lying- against a wall… He had been run through" The last sentence was hard for Arthur to say and hard for the knights to hear.

Silence had engulfed the room. That is until Gwaine angrily punched a wall, who then had to be, once again, calmed. Arthur had parted from the huddle to be pulled into a hug from Gwen, which he gladly accepted, mumbling into Gwen's hair. Even kings need comforting sometimes. After minutes of silence Arthur said,

"We must get moving. Nightfall will come soon"

"What about Merlin? His body? Surely he deserves a funeral too?" Leon responded.

"And he shall get one. But the room he was in was filled with several ghost like creatures. I am not going to lose another man's life today, Leon. His funeral will be as honourable as any knight." Leon didn't argue. He had a fair point and arguing would not have helped right now. The knights proceeded to gather Elyan's body and carry it out of the room, down the stairs and out of The Dark Tower.

* * *

Footsteps…

Footsteps? They were in the room with him but no one had entered since Merlin had been thrown in there, and he was pretty sure no one else had already been in there before he was. Merlin was currently sitting with his back against a wall, hugging his knees to his chest tightly with his head buried in them. It had been more or less a day since he had last seen Arthur and the knights.

The footsteps were getting closer, louder. He didn't move, hoping whatever it was would go away. It didn't

"Merlin" A gasp left his mouth. The voice was stern, low and very familiar. The person was right next to him.

"Merlin you clot pole look at me" He very slowly lifted his head to look at him. Arthur.

"What's your excuse for slacking this time?" He asked. Merlin didn't answer he just chuckled and smiled. However Arthur's stayed serious and almost angry.

"No, seriously." Both said nothing for a moment "You know what, I'm tired of your excuses. Your lies. I thought I was your friend, Merlin. Friends don't keep secrets from each other!" Merlin realised what was happening and he scuttled away backwards towards a corner. 'Arthur' followed.

"Especially ones like yours! You're a sorcerer, Merlin! It is against the law! Magic is evil! You are evil! I am certain of that." He was walking over to Merlin while hurling these harmful words at him.

"No… Arthur it's not like that! I wanted to—"He was harshly cut off.

"You were that sorcerer that came to heal my father weren't you? You killed him. YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" Arthur grabbed his sword and pointed it at Merlin's throat.

"NO! ARTHUR PLEASE!" All of a sudden he was gone. Arthur was no longer there. It was a hallucination.

The horror had begun.

* * *

Morgana had watched the entire scene of Arthur telling his knights the news of Merlin's 'death'. She had been laughing all the way through.

"So easily fooled, Arthur! How weak!" She chuckled at how easy it was to trick them all. She also hadn't failed to notice Gwen catch on to her shenanigans and smile at the amount of suffering it was inflicting.

After they had left she had waltzed down to the room she was keeping Merlin in. Oh boy, she had never felt this pleased with herself in a _long_ time. On her way there she could hear talking. A sentence of shouting and then silence. 'Hah! The fun has begun!' She thought just before looking through a sliding grate on the door and seeing Merlin in a far corner of the room, curled up and whispering to himself. A wide, genuine smile spread across her face. Seconds later she enchanted the same glass ball as before to act as a sort of security camera on Merlin's cell. She carried it with her to a room on the floor above where she is going to feast (by herself) to her ingenious plan.

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There was silence between the party of people as they sat huddled around a small campfire, lost in their own thoughts. Without Merlin here they couldn't get the fire as big as he would. There was enough dinner to not starve but not as much as Merlin would cook so they were left still hungry. Without Merlin there was no idiotic, uninterrupted ramblings that would usually annoy Arthur out of his mind, but now that it wasn't available they all realised how much they actually liked it. The only person who actually enjoyed Merlin's chatter was Elyan. Who was, well…you know… Elyan would joke along with Merlin and talk to him whenever the other knights were a bit harsh on him. They both got along really well and their talks would bring some life to the camp. Without one or the other it would be quieter but it wouldn't be like this: Completely silent.

Gwaine poked at the fire with a flimsy stick before breaking the silence.

"I'll go get some more firewood" He sighed and left his seat after receiving a slight nod from Arthur. They all knew that he wasn't going to do that at there was still a fair amount left; instead he was going to release his anger somewhere away from the group.

Gwaine walked for a few minutes so he was far away enough but he wouldn't get lost in the dark that surrounded him. He reached a thick tree and immediately started punching, kicking, yelling at and blaming it. Tears pricked at his eyes throughout the whole thing and finally fell when he slumped at against it and slid to the ground. He kept quiet but he cried heavily into his hands. They had all lost two friends that day. Two dear friends that were always happy, kind, caring, loving and lovable people. It angered Gwaine that, of all the people, the most innocent ones were killed. It angered Gwaine that they weren't able to retrieve Merlin's body. He understood why and he completely agreed with the reasons but how was he meant to be fine with it? It angered him that they hadn't paid attention at all times.

Poor innocent Merlin.

What had the boy ever done to deserve such a horrible death? What had the boy ever done to deserve to die? He had so many questions. None of them could be answered.

He couldn't imagine how Gaius will react when he is told the news. He was like a father to Merlin. Gaius got angry after Merlin would come back slightly injured, so if hell broke loose, **no one** would be surprised. In fact Gwaine couldn't imagine how the castle would react. Everybody loved him.

 **Everybody.**

People smiled at the mention of his name. He would wave hello to everybody he passed while running chores! No matter how busy Merlin was he made sure to be kind towards every soul he passed. It suddenly dawned on Gwaine with the reaction the _it would_ have. He pressed his head into his hands.

The sudden, tragic, ruthless death of this boy would hit Camelot like a truck (well, horse).

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 _ **Phew! Oh I'm sorry for the amount of feels in this chapter. It was slightly boring but I was trying to express how much Merlin was loved and how tragic the 'death' is to everybody. The next chapter should be more eventful and it will be up maybe tomorrow maybe the day after that but I assure it won't be long! ANYWAYS HAVE A NICE DAY/NIHGT AND I LOVE YOU ALL – Your CheeseMaster**_


	4. IMPORTANT NOTICE

HI I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO EXPLAIN BUT IVE BEEN GONE BECAUSE THERE WERE GAS LEAKS IN MY TOWN AND WE ALL HAD TO BE EVACUATED SINCE NOVEMBER I THINK AND I HAVENT HAD INTERNET SINCE THEN AND IM ONLY ABLE TO POST THIS BECAUSE A KIND LADY IS LETTING ME USE HER LAPTOP, I DON'T KNOW WHEN I WILL BE GOING BACK OR ABLE TO POST AGAIN BUT ILY ALL STAY SAFE (unlike my town) XX


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